Burden and Coping Ability of Individuals Caring for Chronically Ill Older Adults in Nigeria: A Mixed Methods Study.

Family members play key roles in the care of older adults with chronic illness. However, little is known about the negative consequences of caregiving in Sub-Sahara Africa. The current study examined the influence of caregivers' burden and coping ability on the health-related quality of life of caregivers of older adults with chronic illness. An exploratory sequential mixed methods study was conducted among 16 family members. Findings showed that caregivers experienced severe burden, coped moderately with the burden, and had poor quality of life. Furthermore, directed content analysis of the in-depth interviews uncovered six major themes: (a) Being Pulled in Opposite Directions, (b) Experiencing Poor Health, (c) Receiving Support From Family and Friends, (d) Turning to God for Help, (e) Seeking Relief for Aching Bodies, and (f) Seeking Remedies for Sleeplessness. The current findings may have implications for designing programs that aim to improve the well-being of caregivers. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 45(1), 39-46.].

Evidence-Based Practice Guideline: Elder Abuse Prevention.

Elder abuse occurs in all practice settings and presents in various forms. The purpose of the current evidence-based practice guideline is to facilitate health care professionals' assessment of older adults in domestic and institutional settings who are at risk for elder abuse, and to recommend interventions to reduce the incidence of mistreatment. Limited research has been conducted on interventions to prevent or reduce elder abuse. Research is available on the prevalence of elder abuse and indicators of individuals who may be more susceptible to harm. The current article summarizes prevalence and risk factors for elder abuse, instruments available to assess individuals at risk for or victims of abuse, and potential interventions to prevent or reduce elder abuse. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 44(7), 21-30.].

Evidence-Based Practice Guideline: Secondary Prevention of Late-Life Suicide.

Suicide is a tragic, traumatic loss, and one of the most emotionally devastating events families, friends, and communities experience. Suicide claims more than 800,000 lives every year, and some of the highest rates of suicide in the United States and globally are among older adults. The purpose of this evidence-based guideline is to help health care providers recognize those at risk for suicide and recommend appropriate and effective secondary suicide prevention interventions. The information in this guideline is intended for health care providers who work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, out-patient clinics, mental health clinics, home health care, and other long-term care facilities. Assessment and preventive treatment strategies were derived by exhaustive literature review and synthesis of the current evidence on secondary prevention of late-life suicide across practice settings. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 44(11), 20-32.].

Evidence-Based Practice Guideline: Delirium.

Delirium is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized older adults often superimposed on dementia. Older patients with delirium are more likely than other populations to develop hospital-acquired infections, pressure ulcers, and immobility and nutritional issues, as well as to have increased health care costs, longer hospital stays, and long-term care following discharge. Interventions that prevent or mitigate the effects of delirium while promoting recovery are essential for caring for hospitalized older patients. This article is a summary of an evidence-based guideline that includes a framework for addressing delirium that focuses on predisposing and precipitating factors for delirium. In addition, the guideline includes evidence-based assessment and intervention principles, along with a review of reliable and valid assessment instruments. The guideline also identifies measurable outcomes for managing delirium and a quality improvement approach for improving outcomes. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 44(2), 14-24.].

Evidence-Based Practice Guideline: Fall Prevention for Older Adults.

Falls are a major cause of injury and death annually for millions of individuals 65 and older. Older adults are at risk for falls for a variety of reasons regardless of where they live. Falls are defined as any sudden drop from one surface to a lower surface. The purpose of this fall prevention evidence-based practice guideline is to describe strategies that can identify individuals at risk for falls. A 10-step protocol including screening for falls, comprehensive fall assessment, gait and balance screening when necessary, and an individualized fall intervention program addressing specific fall risks is presented. Reassessing fall risk and fall prevention programs will ensure a proactive approach to reducing falls in the aging population. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 43(11), 15-21.].

Evidence-Based Practice Guideline: Persistent Pain Management in Older Adults.

More individuals develop and endure constant or recurring pain in older adulthood. Although 40% of these individuals receive no treatment, many evidence-based treatments are available. Accurate assessment of pain, its impact on functioning, and preventing treatment-related harms lay the foundation of safe, effective pain control. Analgesic agents are often necessary, but require a delicate balance to prevent under-treatment, the unnecessary abandonment of therapy, or exposure to potentially serious adverse effects. Nondrug therapies must be better integrated into the treatment plan to ensure overall safety. Evidence-based approaches help older adults thrive and survive longer despite living with persistent pain. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 43(7), 20-31.].

Evidence-Based Practice Guideline : Acute Pain Management in Older Adults.

Acute pain is a prevalent problem in a growing segment of the older adult population and is often ineffectively managed despite the accumulation of evidence to guide assessment and support interventions in managing pain. Improvements in acute pain management in older adults are needed to provide consistent and quality pain assessment techniques and treatment therapies consistent with patient and/or family preferences. The current article briefly discusses ways to improve the pain experience and outcomes for older patients and families. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 43(2), 18-27.].

Development and Use of Gerontological Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values to facilitate clinical decision making and the achievement of optimal patient outcomes and quality of life. Since 1994, The University of Iowa College of Nursing and its partner, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Department of Nursing Services and Patient Care, has been at the forefront of making gerontological nursing EBP a reality. Every 4 months since 2007, the Journal of Gerontological Nursing (JGN) has published an EBP article focusing on a specific situation or problem associated with the care of older adults based on an EBP guideline developed and published by the University of Iowa College of Nursing. The current article provides background for the development of EBP in general and the specific development, processes, and components of the EBP guidelines published in this section of JGN. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 42 (7), 25-32.].

Evidence-Based Practice Guideline: Changing the Practice of Physical Restraint Use in Acute Care.

Physical restraints continue to be used in acute care settings, despite the challenges and calls to reduce this practice. The current guideline on restraint use is updated with evidence that includes critical care settings and issues related to restraint use in acute care units. Nurses play a significant role in the use of restraints. Factors such as nurse's knowledge and patient characteristics combined with the culture and resources in health care facilities influence the practice of physical restraint use. Nurses can identify patients at high risk for restraint use; assess the potential causes of unsafe behaviors; and target interventions in the areas of physiological, psychological, and environmental approaches to address those unsafe behaviors. Members of the interdisciplinary team can provide additional consultation, and institutions can provide resources and education and implement monitoring processes and quality improvement practices to help reduce the practice of physical restraint use. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 42(2), 17-26.].

Originating Research Ideas.

Research aimed at generating new knowledge is the heart of the scholarship of discovery. The author of this paper explores how original research ideas can be generated for formal investigations and artsciencing. Curiosity and creativity are presented as "seeds" for originating ideas, and seven patterns (adjacent possible, liquid networks, the slow hunch, serendipity, error, exaptation, and platforms) are described as synergistic potentiators for geminating original research ideas.

The Role of Metaphor in Hermeneutic Research.

The identification and interpretation of metaphor is useful to hermeneutic research. Metaphor is a way of conceiving one concept in terms of another and serves as a function of understanding. The author explores the rise of hermeneutics research and its relevance to nurse artsciencing. Metaphors are a creative strategy hermeneutic researchers can use to analyze and interpret data, and serve as a powerful strategy to represent complex realities, illuminate unnoticed aspects of a phenomenon, and provide depth of meaning to the understanding of human experiences.

Heuristic Research in Nursing Science.

The purpose of this article is to reintroduce and describe the processes and phases of heuristic inquiry and to illustrate how the method can advance nursing science. Heuristic inquiry is a rigorous, systematic, phenomenologically orientated research method developed by Clark Moustakas for investigating, discovering, and understanding the nature and meaning of living experiences. Heuristic inquiry invites the inclusion of the researcher's autobiographical living of experience being investigated honoring the personal experiences of the phenomenon from self and each participant in the research study. The author proposes that heuristic inquiry be used in nursing science by including a theoretical interpretive process connecting the thematic essences of the nursing conceptual framework guiding the study. Nursing theory-guided heuristic research advances the study of caring for persons experiencing human-environmental-health transitions to enhance human betterment and wellbecoming.

The Uncertainty in Family Caregivers of Hospitalized Persons With a Stroke in Saudi Arabia: Unitary Caring Perspective.

Uncertainty is a universal experience of family caregivers caring for persons with a stroke and affects caregivers' readiness to care for their family members with a stroke. Guided by the unitary caring theory and unitary-caring hermeneutic-phenomenological research method, this study was conducted among 15 family caregivers of persons in the hospital who have survived strokes through in-depth semi-structured interviews. Five essences emerged from the analysis: living in a dark reality; yearning for professional support; enduring a life full of tribulations; attempting resolution; and creating new patterns of living. Each of the 5 essences was interpreted from Smith's unitary caring theory perspective.

Cultivating Awe: A Means to Inspire Sciencing.

Awe is an emotion involving a feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends one's current understanding of the world and is associated with creating a sense of wonder and curiosity. The author explores how awe experiences can have a role in igniting and sustaining research endeavors, and how nurse researchers can cultivate everyday awe experiences as sources of inspiration when engaged in the art of nurse sciencing.

Biographical Narrative Research From the Perspective of the Science of Unitary Human Beings: A Methodological Approach.

Narrating or storytelling is a fundamental practice for human survival and a means for finding meaning in experiences and for enhancing self-understanding. The use of story has been present in nursing since its origins. Biographical narrative has rarely been used as a research method in nursing, and there are no examples conceptualizing biographical narrative research methods within a unitary science perspective. The purpose of this paper is to describe one specific narrative methodological approach-the biographical narrative research method-and to link the method to the science of unitary human beings as a means of creating a unitary understanding of the storied nature of human-health experiences.

Unitary Caring Science: A Hermeneutic-Phenomenological Research Method.

All phenomenological research, including descriptive phenomenological methods, are theory based. The knowledge in a discipline is built using discipline-specific methods. The purpose of this article is to develop and describe the processes of a mode of inquiry specific to caring in nursing theories housed within the unitary caring paradigm. Morgan's practical framework examining ontological-epistemological-methodological linkages was used to develop the unitary-caring hermeneutic phenomenological research method The method is specific to conducting hermeneutic phenomenological research within Watson's unitary caring science and Smith's theory of unitary caring. The method includes a process of linking and interpreting themes generated from the textual analysis of participant descriptions of the caring phenomena to concepts in the specific unitary caring theory that informs the researcher's a priori theoretical perspective to develop a theoretical understanding of the experience and contribute to the development of unitary caring nursing science.

A Unitary Caring Theory Perspective of Family Caregiving for Patients Hospitalized With a Stroke in Saudi Arabia.

The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the experience of Saudi informal family caregivers of hospitalized patients who have experienced a stroke. In-depth, face-to-face, semistructured interviews of five family caregivers using open-ended questions were conducted in a major hospital in Saudi Arabia. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using the unitary-caring hermeneutic phenomenological research method. Data analysis revealed six major essences that were synthesized into one statement reflecting the essence of caring for a family member with a stroke in Saudi Arabia: Living with the uncertainty of ambiguity amid feeling distressed with worries and fears replete with unfulfilled desires while yearning for compassionate caring and overcoming uncertainties through connections and faith honoring abiding commitments. As a means to transform the findings into theory and language of the nursing discipline, the essences were then interpreted within the theory of unitary caring.

Motivational interviewing: Validation of a proposed NIC nursing intervention in persons with a severe mental illness.

INTRODUCTION: Low adherence to treatment is a common problem in the care of patients with severe mental illnesses. Motivational interviewing is a directive, client-centered counseling therapeutic approach designed to elicit behavior change by helping clients to explore and resolve ambivalence. Nurses use motivational interviewing, although it has not been defined from a nursing perspective nor with nursing language. Thus, nursing research on the use of these techniques is being carried out, supported by their effectiveness in many health problems. The development of motivational interviewing as a standardized nursing intervention for inclusion in the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) may promote its use by mental health nurses in their daily work and thus improve the quality of care. OBJECTIVES: To validate a proposed motivational interviewing nursing intervention for inclusion in the NIC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We followed the validation methodology of the NIC of the Iowa and the Intervention Normalization for Nursing Practice projects. The study comprised theoretical (scientific and expert validation) and empirical (terminological and clinical validation) phases. RESULTS: There is ample evidence supporting the efficiency of the motivational interviewing to improve the therapeutic adherence of people with severe mental illness. The group of experts agreed on the label name "motivational interviewing" for the NIC based on the modified model by Miller & Röllnick (2015), which includes 28 associated activities through the phases of engaging, focusing, evoking, and planning. Development of the NANDA International and the Nursing Outcomes Classification nursing language was completed. Knowledge and drug attitude improved in the motivational intervention group. CONCLUSIONS: We validated the nursing intervention motivational interviewing for inclusion in the NIC that will help improve therapeutic adherence. The intervention may be used for other behavioral changes.

Blood Pressure Control and Adherence to Drug Treatment in Patients with Hypertension Treated at a Specialized Outpatient Clinic: A Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and identify variables associated with the control of hypertension and adherence to antihypertensive drug treatment in a group of patients with hypertension monitored in a specialized, highly complex outpatient service. METHODS: A prospective, cross-sectional study was carried out in the hypertension unit of a tertiary teaching hospital. Patients diagnosed with hypertensive aged 18 years and over and accompanied for at least six months were included in the study. Patients with secondary hypertension and pregnant women were excluded. The sample consisted of 253 patients. Adherence/concordance to antihypertensive treatment was assessed using the Morisky Green Levine Scale. Blood pressure control was set for values less than 140/90 mmHg. Variables with p≤0.20 in univariate analysis were included in multiple logistic regression. The level of significance adopted was p ≤0.05. RESULTS: Most of patients were white, married and women, with a mean age of 65 (13.3) years old, low income, and education levels. Blood pressure control and adherence were observed in 69.2% and 90.1% of the patients, respectively. Variables that were independently associated with blood pressure control were (OR, odds ratio; CI, 95% confidence interval): married marital status (OR 2.3; CI 1.34-4.28), use of calcium channel blockers (OR 0.4; CI 0.19-0.92) and number of prescribed antihypertensive drugs (OR 0.78; CI 0.66-0.92). Adherence was not associated with any of the variables studied. CONCLUSION: There was a high frequency of patients with satisfactory adherence to antihypertensive drug treatment. Blood pressure control was less frequent and was associated with social and treatment-related factors.